Ed FitzGerald ups his profile at the ODP dinner

We noticed something curious on the Ohio Democratic Party dinner program Saturday night. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald was listed as a sponsor of the event, the only elected official listed at the event.

And to add to the subtlty of a County Executive’s sudden interest in making an impression on Democratic activists at the State Convention and Dinner, FitzGerald had folks handing out flier inviting attendees to an after-dinner event for him nearby. We literally could not walk out of the convention hall without more than one person offering it to us.

Ted Strickland was unable to attend due to his commitments on the DNC Platform Committee required him to be in Minnesota (for a convention in North Carolina… yeah, we don’t get that, either.) Frances was there with a release of her 2012 edition of her campaign song (she’s like the Jib Jab of Ohio, except with folksy music performances.) Rich Cordray is unable to attend such events because he promised to avoid such partisan political events while he’s the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (that and there’s the whole thing about Cordray being rumored being behind the failed coup against Chairman Redfern that imploded almost right out of the gate.)

We heard no sightings of Jennifer Brunner or Tim Ryan. Ryan’s absence was somewhat more noticeable given the appearance of other members and former Members of Congress, like Marcy Kaptur.

So, for all the candidates rumored to be potentially be running for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2014, Ed FitzGerald was the only one who personally made an appearance.

We’ve written before how John Kasich’s failures as a Governor has made many Ohioans believe that 2014 can’t come soon enough. But Ed FitzGerald apparently is taking that quite literally.